This press release has been making the e-rounds. Glad to find the news this morning.
WMXP-LPÂ /Â 95.5 FM
The Voice of the People
Community Radio for Greenville, South Carolina
321 W. Antrim Drive, P.O.Box 16102, Greenville, SC 29607
Tel. 864-239-0470;  Fax 864-242-2560 ÂE-mail mxgrm@aol.com
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For Immediate ReleaseContact:Â
Efia Nwangaza, mxgrm@aol.com,
864-901-8627Siyade Gemechisa, siyade@prometheusradio.org,          Â
215-727-9620 ext.505
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Malcolm X Grassroots Movement and Prometheus Radio Project Build Greenville Community Radio StationGroups Across the South Organize to Build Rare Civil Rights Radio Station
Greenville, SCÂ Â June 8-10
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GREENVILLE, S.C.—WMXP-LP (95.5 FM) is Greenville’s only non-commercial, volunteer, grassroots, community owned and operated radio station.
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“Over the weekend of June 8-10, the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXGRM) and Prometheus, like Habitat for Humanity, will build a community radio station from the ground up and train local community members to maintain and operate it. We will bring together hundreds of local and regional volunteers to build an entire, brand new, low power, FM community radio station,” said Efia Nwangaza, co-coordinator for the radio barnraising.
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More than 40 workshops will be conducted over the weekend; from hands-on building and maintenance, programming and production, to management. “‘WMXP-LP, the Malcolm X Experience, The Voice of the People’ is radio of, by, and for the people not profits,” she added.
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From April 10-18, to help recruit volunteers and build momentum for Greenville’s “radio barnraising,” Prometheus media activists Siyade Gemechisa and Emily Geddes will travel throughout the South. They will make stops in North Carolina, Georgia, eastern Tennessee, as well as South Carolina.ÂSpreading the news of Prometheus Radio Project’s eleventh collaborative radio station barn raising, and Greenville and the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement’s first, Prometheus will connect with dozens of social justice groups, media activists and partners in the struggle to put the people’s voices on the people’s airwaves. The tour will also provide an opportunity to meet with organizers up to a twelve-hour driving radius of the Greenville barn raising and have face-to-face conversations about media issues that effect almost all groups involved in social activism.
“The tour is special, not just because the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement is offering a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for regional supporters to build a station and be there for its first moments on the FM dial, but because the people who meet with us will serve as the regional support network for a newborn station, growing, empowering and supporting its community,” said Gemechisa, Prometheus event director and major co-coordinator for the barnraising.Â
“There is no limit to what positive changes can be made when this community builds an outlet for self expression, to share its talents, to discuss and impact the issues it is facing.”
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With increased media consolidation, many southern community groups like the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement have found tremendous difficulty in getting their voices on the airwaves.“There are particular issues of importance to the South that many groups look forward to discussing – lack of public transportation, for example, is a recurring one. Social justice groups will have a space for public discourse on this and other issues through their own community radio station,” continued Emily Geddes, a longtime Prometheus volunteer and partner.
“This barnraising also has the potential to catalyze the southern social justice network around the upcoming opportunities to launch new outlets on the FM dial,” she said.
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Prometheus Radio Project, based in West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, works to build and expand access to community radio in the U.S. and around the world. Prometheus workshops are different in every town – and are tailored to a communities’ needs!  Prometheus has built radio stations from New Hampshire to Mexico to Tanzania, East Africa – with farmworkers, civil and human rights organizations, community groups, youth collectives, and more. For more information on the upcoming tour and radio barnraising, contact Siyade Gemechisa or Emily Geddes at the email and telephone number listed above. Visit here to plug into our work!
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The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement is a coalition of individuals and organizations committed to defending and advancing the human rights of New Afrikan people. It promotes capacity building for community self-determination and empowerment through the use of technology and the arts from a human rights framework. Visit here for more information. Â
…………coincidentally enough, a week after airing a report on the I-Mess.
As usual, hiphop was blamed for Everything That Has Gone Wrong With Black People. Although at least there was some acknowledgement last night that money talks, and that the rappers are just doing their part to make it (for the white corporations).
Checking out tonight’s story, I heard no more than two sentences and one sound-bite about police-Black community relations. Not only was the shrift short, that history wasn’t even acknowledged by “60 Minutes”‘ Special Correspondent Anderson Cooper until two-thirds into the story—after the socio-racial pathology had already been established. Oooh-kay.
I’m not offering any excuses for anyone. It’s better to just provide info. So here’s a longer history.
APRIL 27th UPDATE: From EUR:
CAM’RON CLARIFIESÂ ’60 MINUTES’ COMMENTS: Rapper hires PR firm to deal with backlash following Sunday’s telecast
Rapper Cam’ron has drawn a barrage of criticism and outrage over comments he made during last Sunday’s “60 Minutes” segment on “snitching.”
During the show, the artist said that his street credibility, and ultimately album sales, would suffer if he were to ever cooperate with police in bringing criminals to justice. He told correspondent Anderson Cooper that he wouldn’t even alert cops if he knew a serial killer had moved next door.
“I wouldn’t call and tell anybody on him—but I’d probably move … but I’m not going to call and be like, ‘The serial killer’s in 4E,'” Cam told Cooper.
According to Allhiphop.com, Cam’ron hired publicity firm 5W Public Relations to help deal with the backlash caused by his controversial comments on the news program. He told the Web site in a statement:Â “In 2005, I was a victim of a violent crime. I was shot multiple times without provocation by two armed men who attempted to carjack my vehicle. Although I was a crime victim, I didn’t feel like I could cooperate with the police investigation.”
“Where I come from, once word gets out that you’ve cooperated with the police that only makes you a bigger target of criminal violence,” Cam’ron explained. “That is a dark reality in so many neighborhoods like mine across America. I’m not saying it’s right, but it’s reality. And it’s not unfounded. There’s a harsh reality around violence and criminal justice in our inner cities.”
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Despite this reality, Cam’ron adds: “My experience in no way justifies what I said” on 60 Minutes. “Looking back now, I can see how those comments could be viewed as offensive, especially to those who have suffered their own personal tragedies or to those who put their lives on the line to protect our citizens from crime.
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“Please understand that I was expressing my own personal frustration at my own personal circumstances. I in no way was intending to be malicious or harmful. I apologize deeply for this error in judgment.”
C’mon, WUSA. This was the only news-roundup show hosted by a brother—one who happens to be one of the best live broadcasters in the business.
I will miss this program. Seriously. It was, on average, more lively than “Washington Week” but more cerebral than, say, “The McLaughin Group.” Meaning it was, well, almost perfect as these shows go.
Even worse, it’s being replaced by “ET.”
With apologies to Charlie Brown, *SIGH.*
……will be the voice of the Silver Surfer in this summer’s live-action flick “Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Sliver Surfer.”
EXCELLENT CHOICE!
(I really hope this movie will go down as the greatest sequel of all time. 🙂 )
In response to this news, a poster on the Fantastic Four Message Board said James Earl Jones should be the voice of Galactus. A better choice could not be made.
So now you’ve been told.
Here’s what I wrote two years ago about the film, the man and his murder seven years ago this month.
Radio Journalist’s Ear To, And Voice Of, A People
The Agronomist
Directed By Jonathan Demme.
THINKFilm and HBO/Cinemax Documentary Films.
A Clinica Estetico production.Reviewed by Todd Steven Burroughs
June 6, 2005Radio, when used correctly, can get you killed.
It’s the most powerful, most personal medium. Nothing else on planet Earth can reach more oppressed people—the poorest, the illiterate and semi-illiterate—with the same information at one time. It explains and reflects issues, events, and people. It provides company as well as context. At its best, its mixture and manipulation of supplied sound nourishes the spirit and offers hope for a better tomorrow and, perhaps, even eventual liberation.
So Jean Leopold Dominique, a member of Haiti’s light-skinned mulatto elite, was tuned in to this power. He purchased a radio station. In the 1970s, he turned himself onto the potential of expanding democracy through a free medium. (“Radio, then,” says Dominique, “was not a news medium. It was entertainment.”) He found freedom through his frequency. He committed class suicide using his (broadcast) voice to rally for peasant power. His reward: a violent death after being twice exiled from his homeland.
Jonathan Demme, the filmmaker behind “The Silence Of The Lambs” and “Philadelphia,” was, of course, unaware that Dominique was going to be assassinated in April 2000, outside of Radio Haiti Inter’s studios; Demme had begun interviewing Dominique in 1986 for a documentary on the beleaguered island. They hit it off. So, on and off, the duo’s filmed talks continued until 1999.
Those interviews form the spine of “The Agronomist,” a tribute to Dominique’s life, his wife, and Haiti’s potential and constant strife. (The title comes from the profession he abandoned once broadcasting took hold.) Dominique’s widow, Michele Montas, co-owner of Radio Haiti Inter, assists Demme in telling the story of her husband’s powerful existence as a broadcaster and a grassroots political activist.
The film, which comes out on DVD Tuesday, chronicles the constant battle for free speech in a nation of U.S.-supported dictators and, subsequently, democratically elected presidents who allowed others to use dictator tactics on their behalf. (“It’s 7 a.m.,” Dominique broadcasts one morning in the 1990s. “They try everything—to gnaw at us; to bury us; to electrocute us; to drown us; to drain us; it’s been going on for more than 50 years. Is there a reason for it to stop? Yes—one: Things much change in Haiti.”) The same politically inspired censorship that Dominique experienced when he formed a film club in the 1960s dogged him throughout his career at Radio Haiti Inter. He said he did two things that caught too many angry, oppositional ears: broadcasting in Kreyol (Creole) and providing “in-for-ma-tion”—political commentary and reporting. “Risky business,” Dominique told Demme more than once. Later on in the film, he says directly but not arrogantly: “I know I am attacked because I’m doing my job the way it should be done.”
At first glance, Dominique doesn’t look like a national hero. Pipe ever prominent, physically slight but not frail, he reminded this reviewer of a kind of mulatto Jacques Cousteau. Then he talks, and the energy in his voice takes over. He animates his words with almost comical expressions and with eyes that, when widened to make a point, look ready to pop out of his head. His pronunciation exposes his values (“being TO-GETHER, doing things TO-GETHER”). The fact that he wears his heart, Haiti, on his sleeve is as visible as his wide, big-tooth, grin. His literal smelling of trouble is comical.
Some of Haiti’s best are among those contributing to the story. Wyclef Jean and Jerry “Wonda” Duplessis expertly handle the score, and Edwidge Danticat, the great author, is one of the film’s associate producers.
Victory seems illusionary, particularly viewing “The Agronomist” in the context of today’s headlines. Radio Haiti Inter is no more. As of June 2005, the men charged with Dominique’s murder have either been killed in jail or escaped when Aristide was forced to pack his bags during last year’s coup. The killing’s masterminds are still unknown, and evidence has been lost. Surviving an attempt on her life in Haiti after her husband’s death, Montas now lives and works in America. Nevertheless, the film ends on a triumphal note. A correct choice, since, according to Dominique: “You cannot kill truth; you cannot kill justice; you cannot kill what we are fighting for.”
Copyright © 2004, 2005, 2007 by Todd Steven Burroughs
Cynthia Tucker for her opinion writing.
And the Special Citation for Our Ancestor John Coltrane? Gee, talk about taking your time…… LOL!
……Gene Roberts, for “The Race Beat.”
You can listen here for more about the book. My opinion of books of this genre is here.
Juan Williams just said on “FOX News Sunday” that Black America has not had any real campaigns against sexist and mysognistic lyrics. So I yelled at the Tee Vee.
Nothing could be further from the truth. (Has Williams ever gone to a Sharpton speech during the last seven years? Sharpton correctly said on the show that many of their actions against bad hiphop aren’t covered.) But I guess those generalizations allow Williams to continue to be rewarded for his half-truths and half-analysis.Â
Williams loves to characterize Jackson and Sharpton as de-facto racial hustlers, but his hustle never changes. He thinks they’re self-appointed. Williams is appointed by White Talking Heads who think that Clarence Page’s dominant miliancy on the Sunday morning talkers needs checking. 🙂
ADDENDUM: Three cheers for Roland S. Martin and his candor on “Reliable Sources.”
One of the many Afrocentric Listservs that clog my inbox daily provided me with this link, and for that I’m very grateful.
“For The People” was a Black public affairs television show that was unapologetically African-centered. When I first moved to the Washington, D.C. area from the New York tri-state area, I was having serious “Like It Is” withdrawal. Discovering “For The People” on WHUT-TV (then WHMM-TV) was like a surprise gift from Shango.
I miss this program and its host, Listervelt Middleton. Like his guest, Middleton is now an Ancestor.
Drums in the Global Village 